Explorer Publications: African Story Project

Explorer Publications: African Story Project

Explorer Publications: African Story Project	*
Cultural Expressions Research Sequence	"A few weeks ago the cashier at the grocery store, seeing my dark hair and dark eyes, counted my change back to me in Spanish. Three days later the waitress at the pizza place made the same mistake. Happens all the time since I moved to Miami. As though without buckskin, braids and beads I don't exist." - Deloras (Dee) Lane, "Invisible Indian Writers are shaped by their own culture and experiences. Representing a different culture in a believable, realistic way requires the writer to conduct research for accurate information and a deeper understanding. How can a writer reflect the unique characteristics  of a culture in a children's story? First, let's read some children's books which reflect characteristics of culture, from the TumbleBooks database.  http://asp.tumblebooks.com/library/asp/home_tumblebooks.asp Go to TumbleBooks and do a search on keyword culture to access the children's books in the Culture Playlist, Culture Playlist: More than a sight-seeing trip and more than a trip to a museum. Immerse yourself in the lives and experiences of a different culture for your own...and learn that we are all not so different from each other at all!Books in this playlist: Bintou's Braids, Suki's Kimono, and The Best Mariachi in the World Read and listen to one of these children's books to discuss how elements of culture are reflected in the characters, plot, and setting of the story.
Task & Product	You will write and illustrate a children's story portraying the unique characteristics and values of a chosen African culture. Before you begin writing your story, you will need to conduct research in order to develop an understanding of the culture you want to portray. Your notes from Around the World Research about the country you selected in Africa, our class discussions of politics, culture, science, natural resources, flora, fauna, and environmental concerns will give you a wide scope of facts to work with.
Assessments	The following scoring tools may be used or adapted by your teacher to evaluate your research process and your final product and presentation. Research Process Assessments: Daily-- Formative Research Process—Summative Student/Self | Teacher Final Product Assessment: Children's story
Questions	Essential Question:  How can a writer reflect the unique characteristics  of a culture in a children's story? Subsidiary Questions: What cultural information could be reflected through characterization in a story? (a character's words, actions, physical appearance, etc.) What cultural information could be reflected through the plot events in a story? What cultural information could be reflected through the setting of a story?
Gather and Sort	Use a variety of resources for gathering information about specific elements of culture that might be included in your story, such as: Clothing, shelter, jewelry, transportation language (common greetings and expressions) foods customs and traditions sports and recreation art or music education/school holidays religion indigenous species: flora and fauna folk tales, myths, legends, and lore sacred places, belief systems geology, geography, climate, and weather You may think of other aspects of your chosen culture to include in your children's story. Sort your research findings using this note-taking web or chart, or you may create a graphic organizer of your own. Be sure to avoid plagiarism and remember to cite your sources. Use an online citation generator or check a research guide for details about the proper citation of sources. For MLA guidelines and examples, click here.
	http://www.bcps.org/offices/lis/models/culturexpressions/index.htm
Organize	Analyze your research notes to determine if you have sufficient information to portray your chosen culture accurately and realistically in a children's book for elementary students.  Consider the perspective of your audience. Which cultural elements work would be most interesting to a young child? Which cultural elements work best with your story idea? Which details don't fit in with your story idea should not be included? Synthesize your findings by creating a Story Map to plan your children's story including elements of culture from your research. Incorporate elements of the culture you researched into the characters, plot, and setting of your story. How could you thoughtfully reflect the culture and the theme of your story in the book's title? What pictures would best illustrate the cultural elements included in your story? How might you illustrate the cover of your book to go with your title? Use your Story Map to write a first draft of your children's story. Evaluate your children's book for quality and completeness according to the assessment rubric. Have a peer evaluate your children's book as well. Revise or edit your first draft as needed, based on your self-assessment and peer feedback. Write a final draft and create illustrations and a cover for your children's book. Use the Culture Grams Photo Gallery to get some ideas for your illustrations.
Conclusion	Presentation with Peer Review: Share your children's book with a classmate. Your teacher may also have you read your book aloud to a small group. Use PQP (Praise Question Polish) to provide feedback. How realistic was the author's portrayal of culture in the story? Reflection: Suppose your best friend's family was moving to a new country. What information do you think would be most important for them to know in order to have a better understanding of the culture? Extension Activity: We will be sharing our Explorer Publications with the 2-3 class audience.

AUDIENCE PURPOSE





CHARACTERS




SETTING (time and place)



PLOT SEQUENCE OUTLINE
AFRICAN STORY PROJECT:  SELF REFLECTION ON INQUIRY
Name: ______________________________________________ Date: ___________________________

My Inquiry:_______________________________________________________________________________


This is the way I learn:
Check the following statements that most reflect how you learned in the past inquiry.

____ I need to talk to others about my ideas.
____ I need to have some quiet time alone.
____ I need some time to think before I write anything down.
____ It helps me to draw or chart my ideas.
____ I need some help getting going.
____ I need to move around.

Give specific examples of the statement(s) here. When did you do this and how did it help you?







My inquiry tools:
Choose the top two tools that helped you the most in this inquiry. Complete the sentence stem to explain how it helped you to achieve your learning goals. Write your two reflections in boxes #1 and #2 below.

____ Writing in my inquiry journal helped me to ...
____ My inquiry chart was most useful to me when ...
____ My inquiry log was useful because ...
____ My inquiry circle helped me to ...
____ The inquiry community was helpful to me because/when ...
____ Inquiry presentations were useful because ...


1.



2.




My inquiry process:

This was easy for me because:

This was hard for me because:

Something I will do differently next time is:
From Guided Inquiry Design:  A Framework for Inquiry in Your School by Carol C. Kuhlthau, Leslie K. Maniotes, and Ann K. Caspari.  Santa Barbara, CA:  Libraries Unlimited. Pages 159-160. Copyright  © 2012.